Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 00a Prefatory Word & Introduction

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Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 00a Prefatory Word & Introduction



TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 00a Prefatory Word & Introduction

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Prefatory Word & Introduction

by Charles Spurgeon



THE TREASURY OF DAVID, in seven large volumes, is to be found in

thousands of libraries, but it is too huge a work to be commonly known

among the thousands of Israel, Hence it came into my mind to publish

certain parts of it in smaller books, that many more might be profited by it.

The One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm is of such a size as to stand out

from all the rest, and claim a separate treatment. It is known among the

Germans as “The Christians’ golden A B C of the praise, love, power, and

use of the Word of God”; and from them I have borrowed the title of this

volume. Each portion of the Psalm begins with a letter of the Hebrew

alphabet. As a specimen, we would show how the first eight verses may be

so rendered as to begin in each case with the letter A, or Aleph.

“A blessing is on them that are undefiled in the way;

...............and walk in the law of Jehovah;

A blessing is on them that keep his testimonies,

...............and seek him with their whole heart;

Also on them that do no wickedness,

...............but walk in his ways.

A law hast thou given unto us,

...............that we should diligently keep thy commandments.

Ah, Lord! that my ways were so directed

...............that I might keep thy statutes!

And then shall I not be confounded,

...............while I have respect unto all thy commandments.

As for me, I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart,

...............when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

An eye will I have unto thy statutes:

...............O forsake me not utterly.”

This psalm is a wonderful composition. Its expressions are many as the

waves, but its testimony is one as the sea. It deals all along with one

subject only; but although it consists of a considerable number of verses,

some of which are very similar to others, yet throughout its one hundred

and seventy-six stanzas the self-same thought is not repeated: there is

always a shade of difference, even when the color of the. thought appears

to be the same. Some have said that in it there is an absence of variety; but

that is merely the observation of those who have not studied it. I have

weighed each word, and looked at each syllable with lengthened

meditation; and I bear witness that this sacred song has no tautology in it,

but Is charmingly varied from beginning to end. Its variety is that of a

kaleidoscope: from a few objects innumerable permutations and

combinations are produced. In the kaleidoscope you look once, and there

is a strangely beautiful form you shift the glass a very little, and another

shape, equally delicate and beautiful, is before your eyes. So it is here.

What you see is the same, and yet never the same: it is the same truth, but

it is always placed in a new light, put in a new connection, or in some way

or other invested with freshness.

I do not believe that any subject other than a heavenly one would have

allowed of such a psalm being written upon it; for the themes of this world

are narrow and shallow. Neither could such a handling have been given

even to a sacred subject by any mind less than divine; inspiration alone can

account for the fullness and freshness of this psalm.

The best compositions of men are soon exhausted; they are cisterns, and

not springing fountains. You enjoy them very much at the first

acquaintance, and you think you could hear them a hundred times over; but

you could not: you soon find them wearisome. Very speedily a man eats

too much honey: even children at length are cloyed with sweets. All human

books grow stale after a time; but with the Word of God the desire to

study it increases, while the more you know of it the less you think you

know. The Book grows upon you: as you dive into its depths you have a

fuller perception of the infinity which remains unexplored. You are still

sighing to enjoy more of that which it is your bliss to taste. All this is true

even of the psalm which is in itself nothing more than the eulogy of the

divine testimony.

This wonderful psalm, from its great length, helps us to wonder at the

immensity of Scripture. From its keeping to the same subject it helps us to

adore the unity of Scripture, for it is but one. Yet, from the many turns it

gives to its one thought, it helps us to see the variety of Scripture. How

manifold are the words and thoughts of God I In his Word, just as in

creation, the wonders of his skill are displayed in many ways.

I admire in this psalm the singular commingling of testimony, prayer, and

praise. In one verse the Psalmist bears witness; in a second verse he

praises; in a third verse he prays. It is an incense made up of many spices;

but they are wonderfully compounded and worked together, so as to form

one perfect sweetness. The blending greatly increases the value of the

whole. You would not like to have one-third of the psalm composed of

prayer — marked up to the sixtieth verse, for instance; and then another

part made up exclusively of praise; and yet a third portion of unmixed

testimony. It is best to have all these divinely-sweet ingredients intermixed,

and wrought into a sacred unity, as you have them in this thrice-hallowed

psalm. Its prayers bear testimony, and its testimonies are fragrant with

praise.

Mr. Charles Bridges has written upon this psalm a peculiarly delightful

work. I do not seek to rival him; but I would attempt the edification of the

Lord’s people in the same way as he has done, for he has made no effort to

display learning, but has aimed at promoting devotion. Several notable

authors traversed this heavenly country before Mr. Bridges, and I am one

of those who follow after him: the succession will not end till the Lord

comes.

I commend my labor to my Lord’s acceptance, and pray that his Holy

Spirit may make these praises of Holy Scripture to ring as sweet bells in

the ears of his own people evermore.

Dear Reader, pray for

Thy brother in Christ,

C. H. Spurgeon

Westwood, July 1887.

There is no special title to this. Psalm, neither is any author’s name

mentioned. It is THE LONGEST PSALM, and this is a sufficiently distinctive

name for it. It equals in bulk twenty-two psalms of the average length of

the Songs of Degrees. Nor is it long only; for it equally excels in breadth

of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervor. It is like the celestial

city which lieth four-square, and the height and the breadth of it are equal

Many superficial readers have imagined that it harps upon one string,

and abounds in pious repetitions and redundancies; but this arises from

the shallowness of t he reader’s own mind: those who have studied this

divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety

and profundity of the thought. Using only a few words, the writer has

produced permutations and combinations of meaning which display his

holy familiarity with his subject, and the sanctified ingenuity of his mind.

He never repeats himself; for if the same sentiment recurs it is placed in a

fresh connection, and so exhibits another interesting shade of meaning.

The more one studies it the fresher it becomes. As those who drink the

Wile water like it better every time they take a draught, so does this Psalm

become the more full and fascinating the oftener you turn to it. It contains

no idle word; the grapes of this cluster are almost to bursting full with the

new wine of the kingdom. The more you look into this mirror of a gracious

heart the more you will see in it. Placid on the surface as the sea of glass

before the eternal throne, it yet contains within its depths an ocean of fire,

and those who devoutly gaze into it shall not only see the brightness, but

feel the glow of the sacred flame. It is loaded with holy sense, and is as

weighty as it is bulky. Again and again have we cried while studying it,

“Oh the depths!” Yet these depths are hidden beneath an apparent

simplicity, as Augustine has well and wisely said, and this makes the

exposition all the more difficult. Its obscurity is hidden beneath a veil of

light, and hence only those discover it who are in thorough earnest, not

only to look on the word, but, like the angels, to look into it.

The Psalm is alphabetical Eight stanzas commence with one letter, and

then another eight with the next letter, and so the whorl., Psalm proceeds

by octonaries quite through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Besides which, there are multitudes of oppositions of sense; and others of

those structural formalities with which the oriental mind is pleased, —

formalities very similar to those in which our older poets indulged.

The Holy Spirit thus deigned to speak to men in forms which were

attractive to the attention and helpful to the memory. He is often plain or

elegant in his manner, but he does not disdain to be quaint or formal if

thereby his design of instruction can be the more surely reached. He does

not despise even contracted and artificial modes of speech, if by their use

he can fix his teaching upon the mind. Isaac Taylor has worthily set forth

the lesson of this fact: — “In the strictest sense this composition is

conditioned; nevertheless in the highest sense is it an utterance of

spiritual life; and in thus finding these seemingly opposed elements,

intimately commingled as they are throughout this Psalm, a lesson full of

meaning is silently conveyed to those who shall receive it — that the

conveyance of the things of God to the human spirit is in no way damaged

or impeded, much less is it deflected or vitiated, by its subjugation to

those modes of utterance which most of all bespeak their adaptation to the

infancy and the childlike capacity of the recipient.”

The fashion among modern writers is, as far as possible, to take every one

of the Psalms from David. As the critics of this school are usually

unsound in doctrine and unspiritual in tone, we gravitate in the opposite

direction, from a natural suspicion of everything which comes from so

unsatisfactory a quarter. We believe that David wrote this Psalm. It is

Davidic in tone and expression, and it tallies with David’s experience in

many interesting points. In our youth our teacher called it “David’s

pocket-book,” and we incline to the opinion then expressed, that here we

have the royal diary written at various times throughout a long life. No,

we cannot give up this Psalm to the enemy. “This is David’s spoil.” After

long reading an author, one gets to know his style, and a measure of

discernment is acquired by which his composition is detected even if his

name be concealed: we feel a kind of critical certainty that the hand of

David is in this thing, yea, that it is altogether his own.

The one theme of this Psalm is the word of the Lord. The Psalmist sets his

subject in many lights, and treats of it in divers ways, but he seldom omits

to mention the word of the Lord in each verse under some one or other of

the many names by which he knows it; and even if the name be not there,

the subject is still heartily pursued in every stanza. He who wrote this

wonderful song was saturated with those books of Scripture which he

possessed. Andrew Bonar tells of a simple Christian in a farmhouse who

had meditated the Bible through three times. This is precisely what this

Psalmist had done, — he had gone past reading into meditation. Like

Luther, David had shaken every fruit-tree in Gowns garden, and gathered

golden fruit therefrom. “The most,” says Martin Boos, “read their

Bibles like caws that stand in the thick grass, and trample under their feet

the finest flowers and herbs.” It is to be feared that we too often do the

like. This is a miserable way of treating the pages of inspiration. May the

Lord prevent us from repeating that sin while reading this priceless

Psalm.

There is an evident growth in the subject-matter. The earlier verses are of

such a character as to lend themselves to the hypothesis that the author

was a young man, while many of the later passages could only have

suggested themselves to age and wisdom. In every portion, however, it is

the fruit of deep experience, careful observation, and earnest meditation.

If David did not write it, there must have lived another believer of exactly

the same order, of mind as David, and he must have addicted himself to

psalmody with equal ardor, and have been an equally hearty lover of Holy

Writ.

Our best improvement of this sacred composition will come through

getting our minds into intense sympathy with its subject. In order to this,

we might do well to commit it to memory. Philip Henry’s daughter wrote

in her diary, “I have of late taken some pains to learn by heart Psalm

119, and have made some progress therein.” She was a sensible, godly

woman.

Having rehearsed the subject-matter of this golden Psalm, we should still

further consider the fullness, certainty, clearness, and sweetness of the

word of God, since by such reflections we are likely to be stirred up to a

warm affection for it. What favored beings are those to whom the Eternal

God has written a letter in his own hand and style! What ardor of

devotion, what diligence of composition, can produce a worthy eulogium

for the divine testimonies! If ever one such has fallen from the pen of man

it is this 119th Psalm, which might well be called the holy soul’s soliloquy

before an open Bible.

This sacred ode is a little Bible, the Scriptures condensed, a mass of

Bibline, Holy Writ rewritten in holy emotions and actions. The Germans

called it “The Christian’s golden A B C of the praise, love, power, and

use of the Word of God. Blessed are they who can read and understand

these saintly aphorisms: they shall find golden apples in this true

Hesperides, and come to reckon that this Psalm, like the whole Scripture

which it praises, is a pearl island, or, better still, a garden of sweet

flowers.

The study of this sacred song has often proved helpful to holy men. Henry

Martyn mentions it again and again in his diary; as for instance — “I

experienced a solemn gladness in learning this part, MEM, of the 119th

Psalm.” William Wilberforce makes this record during a time of political

trouble: “Walked from Hyde Park Corner repeating the 119th Psalm in

great comfort.” Pascal, in the reading of this holy song, seemed to pass

out of himself in holy rapture.

May those who shall read the Psalm, accepting the help of our

exposition, feel their hearts burn within them! To this end, at the very

outset let our prayer ascend to God, that his Holy Spirit may rest upon us

while we devoutly peruse the volume.